


Sweet Altean Dreams

by AgeofCipher



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also Klance is going to be quite a few chapters away, I put in the notes how to say these names, I'm not sure how to tag this, Literally an Alternate Universe, M/M, Mostly Keith's POV, Oops, Post Wormhole, another AU, enjoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 22:31:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7592731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeofCipher/pseuds/AgeofCipher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the wormhole incident, Keith finds himself alone in an alternate universe where he's forced to fight for his life or lose his only chance at getting back to where he belongs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alriuya is the alternate Pidge, and her name is pronounced all-ray-ah  
> Ara is the alternate Shiro, his name is easily pronounced as Are-a  
> Tardone is the alternate Hunk, and his name is pronounced Tar-don-tay

As Keith felt Red and himself get sucked out of the wormhole, spat into a random place in the universe, he could vaguely remember his teammates screaming, Lance in particular, and he could remember dry-heaving in the cock-pit of Red.  
He tried to get himself situated, so that he wasn't floating around aimlessly with Red, when his communicator in his helmet cracked to life, spurring as coversation filled his ears, the voices of his fellow teammates nearly bringing tears of joy to his eyes."Oh god, I was so worried I wouldn't be able to find any of you," Keith said, bringing up a map in Red and seeing that they were a few planets over, training it seemed.

  
Their conversation stopped when Keith had spoken, falling silent. Finally, Pidge spoke up. "Keith?" She asked, tentatively, as if she was asking Coran what he used to do with the other Paladins.

  
"Yes?" Keith asked confused, flying Red over to their direction, but what met his eyes was not what he had expected. He'd expected a blue lion with Lance in it, who hadn't spoken, which was weird, a yellow lion, a green lion, and a black lion. Instead, he was met with a orange lion, a green lion, a yellow lion, and a black lion.

  
Instead of the castle, there was a Galra ship. "Guys? What are you doing with the Galra?" Keith thought he might have been sick again. They were fighting the Galra, why were his teammates hanging with the Galra? What had gone wrong? Where was Lance?  
"It's got to be an Altean trick-" Pidge piped up, before she was shushed by Shiro. "It couldn't be Alriuya (all-ray-ya) , they didn't create the lions, how would they be able to replicate Red? And it's Keith, you can tell it's just Keith."

  
Hunk let out what sounded like a whine. "I think I'm going to be sick, it can't be Keith, no way," Keith wasn't sure what was going on anymore, and why did Shiro call Pidge Alriuya?

Suddenly, everyone's faces popped up on the screen, and his teammates looked more like Galra troops, glowing eyes and a skin light shade of dark purple, though they nearly looked the same although with some differences.  
Shiro still had his metal arm, but his hair was a bit shorter, and he wore something similar to what the Galra troops had worn during the fights between Voltron and the Galra. Pidge's hair was long and she clearly took pride in how she looked, and she had her lips stained dark purple with her eyes stained in what could be a dark blue, like eyeshadow, while she was wearing the same outfit the witch had been wearing when the quintessence had shattered and soaked Keith. Hunk was a lot thinner, and his hair was styled nicely, but he appeared like he was about to cry, just looking at Keith, while he was dressed alike to Shiro.

  
Keith knew it was wrong for him to have his shock displayed across his face like a banner, and Pid- Alriuya narrowed her eyes at him, clearly suspicious. Shiro seemed a bit sad, like he had hoped that Keith was the Keith they thought he was, and Hunk turned away, his thin face turned away from the screen with pain. "See Ara? I told you it wasn't Keith, it's an Altean masquerading as him." Her eyes were hard and she had a concentrated look on her face. "I'll wipe his Altean Balmera-abusing ass off the surface of all universes," Alriuya finished, piloting her lion so that the green lion was facing Keith and Red, and she began to power up her laser, muttering curses that Keith couldn't hear, much less understand.  
Hunk- the Galran that looked like Hunk and sounded like Hunk- was choking back sobs, trying to muffle the pain of seeing a "copy" of his Keith.

* * *

  
Ara stared into Keith's soul, eyes baring and searching, looking for anything that would tell Ara to let Alriuya kill Keith, to turn every atom of him into nothing, to vaporize him, and it was painful to do so.

  
It had been hard enough to lose Keith in the middle of the war, him and the red lion suddenly gone, nowhere to be found by the other 3 paladins or the Altean. They'd tried contacting him, but to no avail. They were steadily losing the war, a paladin short, weaker than when the four of them were together. It seemed like a miracle to Ara that Keith had appeared, even if it wasn't their original Keith. It was clear that this Keith had believed that Alriuya, Ara, and Tardone were his own team, and he'd been let down just as they had been. Ara definitely needed to talk to Keith, because they finally had what they'd needed, their fourth member.

  
"No," His voice sounded out, and he'd nudged Alriuya to the side when she fired, and she missed Keith and his red lion, and on the screen Keith had clearly accepted his death, and was frozen when he was met with nothing.

  
Alriuya turned back to her screen to meet Ara's hard gaze. Her fiery temper will be the death of her, patience yields virtue, not impulsiveness, Ara thought as he saw Alriuya silently fume, picking her words carefully.

  
"Ara, didn't you know I was going to wipe the Altean trash out? Aren't you upset about what they did to you? Alienating you? They hurt my family, and they made Hunk a freak," She said somewhat cooly, clearly trying to keep herself somewhat calm.

  
Ara's face twisted, his eye twitching at her mention of what the Altean had done to him. His eyes flicked down to his arm, the metal that was now there instead of the flesh he'd originally had. "Keith isn't Altean, and if he was, he wouldn't be able to fly that well, he's clearly too young to be an Altean pilot."

  
Alriuya glanced over at Keith. She had to admit, it was impressive, how he flew and managed to keep his lion level. She had been a pilot for a few years before the war, before she was a Paladin, so when she had first started piloting Green, she wasn't great at it. Fast-forward about five or six years later, she was at a good level with Green.

  
Keith scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward, and casually whispered. "I've only been piloting for two years, and with Red for a few months,"

  
That comment set Alriuya off, who heard him. "A few months?! How the Altean have you been able to pilot so well with only a blink of life spent doing it?" Alruiya screeched, causing Tardone to cringe and Ara winced slightly.

  
"Alright everyone, we're going to get Keith, and he's coming with us. Welcome back, Keith." Ara said, piloting his orange lion to fly out towards Keith, who was quite a distance from the ship, and Ara would rather make sure Keith could make it before they lost this Keith as well.

* * *

  
Once they had boarded the Galra ship, the black lion was captured in a pink ray and pulled into the ship, strangely dark, and chills ran down Keith's spine as it looked different without Shiro piloting it.

  
Ara brought Keith to what must have been the other Keith's room, which looked nearly exactly like his room did back at the castle, although this was a Galra ship. The room was dusty, but it seemed like they had the same taste in fashion, seeing the red jacket he was used to wearing hung up on a hook in the wall. Keith sat down on the bed, touching the sheets and feeling like this was where he belonged, and he looked up to see Ara uncomfortable, as if he was intruding. Keith patted the bed next to him, and Ara sat down warily. "Keith never let me in here, or anyone else. This was his own personal space where he was when he wasn't thinking about the Galra we'd lost or ways to attack Altea."

  
Keith sucked in a breath. "I feel weird. This is comfortable, like I feel like I've been here so many times before, but I feel like I don't belong because I'm, well," Keith gestured to himself, and then to Ara. Ara nodded, and silence covered the room.  
"If you have any questions, Keith, I'll answer them." Ara spoke up, a knowing look in his eyes.

  
"Thanks," Keith said, before he thought of a few questions to ask. "Did you ever have a blue lion?"


	2. Chapter 2

Ara gave Keith a weird look. "No, we had the Orange, Red, Green, and Yellow, and of course Black."

  
"Did Keith ever mention someone named Lance?" Keith asked, leaning a bit closer to Ara.

  
"I- yes. He did. It was once, a few nights after we had been attacked by the Altean, when we'd first become pilots of the lions. He had been very stressed and upset from the attack, and that morning he'd woken up with a smile on his face and he'd told me that he'd dreamed of an Altean-looking man who said his name was Lance, that he'd told Keith a bunch of stupid comebacks whenever Keith threw insults at him, and that he'd overall enjoyed the dream." Ara said, smiling distantly, clearly remembering the incident like it was yesterday.

  
Keith laughed. "Yeah, that sounds a bit like Lance. So who pilots the Black lion?"

  
Ara raised an eyebrow. "Who pilots the black lion? We all do, when our minds are connected through our lions, and as one we pilot the black lion. We haven't been able to do it since Keith went missing, which has put us at a disadvantage in the war. Can I ask you a question?"

  
Keith nodded and Ara closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Where are you from? Who did you think we were? What are you even doing here?"

  
"I'm from Earth, a place that is in the self-proclaimed Milky Way galaxy. I'm an orphan, I never knew my family, and I heard your voices and thought you were Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro, three of my friends, three of the five paladins of Voltron. We had attacked Zarkon, the leader of the Galra, to get Princess Allura back, since Zarkon is a bad guy who is taking over the universe and has enslaved 90% of it, and our wormhole was unstable, so the rest of the paladins and I were spread out over the universe, but I'm not sure why you believed I was Altean."

  
"Keith? I don't think you're where you think you are. There isn't any place called Earth here, and Zarkon isn't the name of the Galra Leader, I'm currently the Galra Leader. Princess Allura? She hasn't been a princess since she put her father in cryogenic freezing and decided to take over the universe, first starting with the Galran empire. You look Altean, which could help us in this war, if you decide to help us." Ara said quietly, eyes flicking back to Keith.

  
Keith looked away. Would he help them? He could, but he needed to get back to where he was from, which was, where exactly? "I don't know if I could help you," Keith confessed, because really, this was a lot to think about. Just this morning he'd been home, with Pidge, Shiro, Hunk, Lance, Allura, Coran, in the castle. He'd finally gotten used to sharing a living space with someone else and fighting a universal war, and suddenly he'd gotten thrown somewhere else, a different universe perhaps? It was weird to think of alternate universes, places where Lance didn't exist, where Keith could've met his copy, where Shiro wasn't Shiro. It was even weirder to be in one.

  
Ara stood up, brushing the dust off of his Galran space suit, which he hadn't changed out of yet. "Well, I guess I should be going now. If you need something I'm sure you'll be able to find it, considering you speak Galran as if you were one yourself, and you can use Keith's clothes, I'm assuming you're about the same size as he was. We'll assemble in the dining hall in the morning, good night Keith." Ara then left the room, leaving Keith to stare at the space the Galran had previously occupied. I can speak...Galran? Keith thought to himself, wondering how the hell he had managed to do that.

  
Keith himself stood up and looked down, realizing he was also in his space suit, his helmet discarded somewhere, most likely in Red if anywhere. Well, let's see what's in the closet then, Keith thought, and he opened the closet to see something similar to what he might have had back in the castle. He picked out a black t-shirt and grey shorts and set to work on getting out of his suit.

  
When he had changed, he felt weird in shorts, but he didn't plan on wearing the tight jeans that Keith had. Seriously, all the other Keith had was tight jeans, an array of t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts, and 3 different space suits, each a different shade of red. Lance would've had a field day trying to get this guy to change his style. Keith let out a quiet laugh, but then his smile dropped at the thought of Lance.

  
Lance didn't exist here, and thinking of Lance made Keith think about everyone else, everyone who wasn't here with him. Where was everyone else? Was it possible they were here?

  
If Keith had landed here, it seemed possible. They were supposed to be scattered across the universe, and it was very likely he wasn't the only one who ended up here, but with the infinite possibilities of where the rest of Voltron could end up, it would be hard to get everyone back together to stop Zarkon. Earth would be destroyed and suddenly, they'd be the last humans alive. A yawn interrupted Keith's thinking, and he felt the exhaustion from battle earlier that day and the hours of training instead of sleeping hit him hard.

  
He turned and looked at the bed, which clearly hadn't been used for a very, very long time, but it looked appealing.

  
As he got situated, pulling the sheets over him and shifting the pillow slightly, one thought ran through his head as his eyes fluttered closed. Remember, if you ever tell this story, leave out this part, or deal with Lance talking shit.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith woke up to a hand in his face. When he jumped back and looked up to see Alriuya, in a space suit rather than the robes she was in yesterday, her curly hair pulled back into a pony tail. "Hey fish stick, wake up. Pretty Altean boys are up earlier than this, dense bones," Alriuya said, clearly annoyed she was sent to wake up Keith, and Keith made a mental note to ask Ara if Alriuya insulting people was a common thing.

  
He sat up and stretched his arms, and Alriuya kept her gaze on him, even as he picked out something to change into, dark jeans and a light grey shirt. "Um, Alriuya, right? Can you just leave the room or something?" Keith asked, slightly uncomfortable with the thought of changing in front of her. Her eyes narrowed at him and then flickered down at the clothing before bouncing back up to his face. She turned around to face the corner.

  
"If you try anything, fish bowl, I will not hesistate to put you in the infirmary." Alriuya called over her shoulder as Keith rushed into getting dressed, slipping on socks and the black sneakers he found in the closet.

  
"I'm done Alriuya,"

  
"Good, I was about to throw you over my shoulder and take you to Ara, weakling." She responded, taking Keith by the wrist and leading him down the hallway.

  
After a few minutes of silence, they made it to a grand dining hall, where Ara and Tardone were already sitting, eating, and a few other Galra that were suited up sat with them. Ara looked up when Alriuya entered with Keith, and a smile graced his face. He waved Keith over to an empty seat next to him, a plate of- whatever that was- already there, and Keith crossed the room to sit next to Ara awkwardly.

  
Keith picked up a fork and ate half of what was on his plate by the time everyone else finished, the Galran soldiers leaving the room and leaving Keith with Ara, Alriuya, and Tardone.

  
"So, Keith," Ara turned to look at Keith after sharing a glance at Alriuya and Tardone. "Think you're up for some testing today?" Based on the reaction Keith gave Ara, Ara knew Keith wanted him to go into detail.  
"DNA tests, maybe some tests on your strength and things like that. We might be able to determine where you're from, then."

  
Keith nodded, giving his permission to be a test subject for a day, and Ara gave him a gentle grin, which Keith tried to reciprocate, but failed. Keith really didn't feel hyped about this, being poked and prodded wasn't really something he enjoyed.

* * *

  
After the first test, which of course, was to determine what race he was, if they even had it in the Galra database, Keith was sat in a waiting room with Tardone, while Alriuya and Ara waited for the results. Tardone didn't look at Keith directly, but he kept glancing back at the other paladin.

  
"Is there something you wanted?" Keith asked, his voice coming out more bitter than intended, and he regretted opening his mouth when he saw Tardone flinch at his words.

  
"Oh no, no, I'm sorry- I, this is weird. And stressful," Tardone rushed, rambling, distress written across his face.

  
Keith stood up and walked to the door of the room where Alriuya and Ara were waiting for the results, and he had lifted his hand to knock at the door but then froze when he heard a hushed conversation behind the door that increased in volume by the second.

  
"Alriuya-"

  
"How could you even think of trusting him? He's Altean, Ara!" Alruiya hissed, and Keith flinched. I'm Altean? But how? He thought, but before he could even think about how he was Altean, Ara spoke up.

  
"He's part Altean! The full results haven't even come back, don't be stubborn Alriuya!" Ara said sternly, and Keith could imagine what they were doing, how Alriuya had a pained look on her face and Ara was shaking, but then again, he could only imagine, and he surely didn't think he'd ever be able to guess exactly what was going on.

  
"They're all terrible beings Ara! They're all corrupted, they all deserve to be obliterated!" Alriuya cried out, frustration clear in her voice. Keith barely had time to jump back from door when Alriuya stormed out, fluorescent tears beginning to break at the edges of her eyes, threatening to spill over her dark skin. She shoved Keith as she left, tossing a glance and a muttered insult over her shoulder back at him.

  
Ara left the room with a distressed look on his face and he had a hand on the back of his head, biting his lip. He muttered an incoherent curse and turned to Keith, trying to put on a brave face for him. "So, Keith! Have you decided yet if you want to help us?" Ara asked, his smile almost painful to look at.

  
"I- I'm sorry Ara. I really don't know, I want to go looking for my friends, but I want to at least help you with your issues if I can't save my own universe," Keith confessed, almost rambling as he couldn't decide, on one hand he felt grateful that Ara was willing to house Keith even if he didn't help them and spent his time and energy trying to get back home and to his team, but on the other hand he wanted to help them win the war they were losing because their Keith had suddenly disappeared, to at least know he helped win one war even if he was unable to stop the Galra of his universe.

  
"It's alright Keith. I understand, we just met, even if you're somewhat alike to the Keith we had, it was unfair of me to ask it of you this early, it hasn't even been a day since your arrival! There's time to think about your decision still, but we should go train if anything, you can never be too prepared," Ara said before walking off, leaving Keith to follow behind him.

* * *

  
When Keith made it to the training room, it was a lot different than the one back in the castle, it was more advanced, and definitely made to push the soldiers to the breaking point and beyond. His mouth dropped into a small 'o', and he tried not to glare at Ara who let out a small laugh at Keith's reaction.

  
Keith tried to hide how impressed he was, playing the stoic card, but the side glances that Ara gave him told a whole different story.

  
The room was large, much about the size of the room on the Galra ship that had contained his lion when he first retrieved it. It was lit up bright, and various equipment storage was labeled across the walls, and there were individual pads where one could fight one of the droids or one of the other inhabitants of the ship. It wasn't purple like Keith had guessed it would be, it was olive colored, and glowing white lines crossed the floor in intricate patterns, and a large "window" allowed those training to look out at the abyss of space while they trained, which appealed to Keith.

  
"You know, Keith, our Keith, spent most of his time in here." Ara spoke, turning to the fascinated Altean.

  
"Ara? I think I might just fit in here, just a little bit."


End file.
